Guatemala: New attacks on indigenous women defenders and members of the Comité Campesino del Altiplano - CCDA
Front Line Defenders expresses its deep concern at the lack of effective protection and investigation into the attacks, threats, forced displacement and attempted criminalisation of at least eight women human rights defenders, members of the Chirrix Tzul Indigenous Community Council, in the region of Chama Grande, municipality of Cobán, department of Alta Verapaz, and members of the Comité Campesino del Altiplano – CCDA (Farmer’s Committee of the Highlands)
The department of Alta Verapaz, located in the north of Guatemala, has historically faced high levels of agrarian conflict, including dispossession of indigenous lands, theft of crops and loss of housing. The defence of indigenous peoples' territories and collective rights has been systematically stigmatised and punished with attacks, including violent displacement, leaving families and communities defending human rights in a vulnerable situation. Historically, women human rights defenders in the region have been at the forefront, facing a justice system that continues to favour land grabbers and businessmen, including owners of African palm monocultures or hydroelectric and mining mega-projects in the region.
The Comité Campesino del Altiplano – CCDA in Verapaz is a human rights organisation that promotes the development of small farmer and indigenous communities in Guatemala in order to improve their standard of living through programmes aimed at creating equality and increasing participation in social, economic, cultural and political processes. To this end, the CCDA has denounced the encroachment of land grabbers on their ancestral lands and has called for better policies to promote rural development.
On 9 April 2024, approximately 42 women of the indigenous community, including eight women defenders who are members of the CCDA, were evicted from their homes. They reported being physically and sexually abused by armed groups, identified by community members as being linked to land-grabbers seeking to take over the community's land. The attacks were reported to the Public Prosecutor's Office Against the Crime of Femicide on 11 April 2024. Following the attack, the women human rights defenders and their families moved to a temporary shelter.
On 20 May 2024, the group of businessmen interested in the land attempted to criminalise the defenders by accusing them of land usurpation and aggravated theft. These accusations were made without any substantive evidence. On 3 December 2024, the defenders were summoned together with their aggressors to the Public Prosecutor's Office to testify about the attacks they suffered on 9 April. This was organised without taking protection protocols into account, which had been established for the victims in order to guarantee their physical and emotional integrity. The case is still under investigation and no significant progress has been reported.
Shortly after the hearing, on 6 December 2024, a group of armed men, identified by the community as land-grabbers' guards, followed the CCDA defenders to the shelters where they were staying. The gunmen blatantly photographed them in an apparent attempt to intimidate the defenders. As a result of this high-risk situation, the eight women defenders were evacuated again, together with their families, and moved to a new shelter, where they remain to date.
Front Line Defenders has previously highlighted the serious and increasing risks faced by human rights defenders in the department of Alta Verapaz, as well as the impact of these attacks on the families of indigenous rights defenders and their communities, who are constantly forced to leave their communities in a context of threats and lack of adequate response from the state. The current situation of the indigenous women defenders of the CCDA shows that this violence is continuing and worsening in their territory.
In this context, Front Line Defenders condemns the violence against human rights defenders in the department of Alta Verapaz and expresses particular concern about the specific situation of indigenous women human rights defenders, who are constantly subjected to violence by land grabbers with the aim of restricting their legitimate work in defence of their collective rights. Front Line Defenders reiterates its call to the Guatemalan authorities to investigate, arrest and condemn those responsible for the harassment and attacks against these indigenous defenders in the department of Alta Verapaz, and to ensure the integral safety of the CCDA members so that they can return to their community.
